As when Dr. Frankenstein created his monster, the Broncos did not know what havoc they would wreak by unleashing Tim Tebow on Denver.

The stadium-rocking chants to put “Tee-Bow!” in the game will only grow louder with each loss by the local NFL team. America’s favorite third-string quarterback is all that makes the Broncos relevant nationwide. How much longer can coach John Fox turn a deaf ear?

“I’m responsible to put the best football product on the field, in my estimation,” Fox told me Thursday, after making it clear Kyle Orton, not Tebow, is his starting quarterback. “Am I perfect? No. But I don’t think there are too many perfect people running around this planet. So you do what you think is best.

“You’re not going to please everybody. I don’t care if you’re in politics, I don’t care if you’re in business or I don’t care if you’re in coaching. I heard (former Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice say once, ‘Don’t let tomorrow’s headlines influence today’s decisions.’ I’ve tried to live by that the best I can.”

The Tebow Thing. It’s alive. And, quite frankly, nobody in charge at Dove Valley knows how to stop a phenomenon born of social media, sales of $79.95 jerseys and the Bible.

This is a quarterback controversy wired for the 21st century.

Through the magic of 2 4/7 Internet connectivity, the voice of spectators and their demands from the cheap seats have never been more impossible to ignore. For example: Jesse Oaks of Independence, Ky., and seven pals have scraped together $10,000 to rent two billboards in Denver asking the Broncos to bench Orton in favor of Tebow.

When told of the plan, Fox laughed. The Broncos’ fall from NFL grace, however, is not a joke to fans.

“I’ve always been so proud when somebody asked: ‘Hey, what’s your favorite football team?’ ” Oaks said. “But lately people seem so happy for the Broncos to be average. What do you mean you hope we get to 8-8 this year? I was hoping for the Super Bowl.

“I feel like if we keep believing in an average quarterback, we’re going to be average.”

Orton has adamantly stated he doesn’t care what fans think. But here’s the disconnect. Although Orton is being paid $8.8 million by the Broncos, he doesn’t seem to be as emotionally invested as the bleacher bums and couch potatoes who make him rich.

The shout-out-loud faith in Tebow is amplified by deeply religious supporters who believe the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner not only performs great deeds on the football field but also serves a higher purpose by spreading the gospel.

“The kid can win and the ticket-buyers want him,” David Rice of Durango e-mailed me after the season-opening loss to Oakland. “It is because he’s a Christian that most sportswriters won’t give him a chance.”

But nobody has incited Tebowmania like the team itself.

The Broncos profited from the excitement, then left it to Fox to play the heavy and tell Tebow he’s not ready for prime time. The Broncos put those No. 15 jerseys front and center in team retail outlets peddling orange madness to die-hards. The Broncos used an image of Tebow to promote season-ticket renewals. Broncos executives John Elway and Brian Xanders not only showed a lack of faith in their incumbent starter at quarterback, but also encouraged the belief change under center was imminent, by actively looking to trade Orton in the hours before the start of training camp.

OK, so maybe Tebow is a best-selling author who can’t read NFL defenses. But Fox isn’t going to stop fanatics from yelling for Tebow merely by declaring it’s the coach who determines which players start on Sunday.

“In this job, you’re going to be criticized, and that’s why we’re compensated like we are,” Fox said.

At some point, this incessant hullabaloo must become a bit embarrassing for Tebow. In fact, the Florida grad looked a bit sheepish in the locker room when quizzed if he would prefer $10,000 be donated to his foundation rather than used to plaster billboards with pleas to “Play Tebow.” No player in recent NFL memory has been adopted by so many stage moms and dads screaming to put young Tim in the game.

“I guess I appreciate the support. But we’ve got people in charge here that we trust,” Tebow said.

If it were my decision, the Broncos would feed the monstrous appetite for all things Tebow by inserting him in the game for at least one snap against Cincinnati. Could you dismiss the strategy as a shameless public-relations move? Absolutely. But as a football decision, how bad could it be to let Tebow take one carry away from Knowshon Moreno?

As you might recall, Tebow was brought to Denver by former coach Josh McDaniels, reviled and ultimately fired for high football crimes and misdemeanors ranging from secretly videotaping a foe’s practice to having the audacity to wear a Bill Belichick hoodie on the sideline in Colorado.

More in Sports

Over the course of the pursuit of a prep wrestling championship four-peat, there always seems to be a defining match or two that either makes or breaks the chance at joining the most exclusive club in the sport.